It was only after she had been watching the combatants for a few minutes that Kirra realized she actually knew some of them. Not twenty yards away, battling it out on foot, were Tayse and Cammon. Tayse was the one she spotted first. He was big, both tall and brawny, and if he wanted to he could dominate a room with his physical presence. His black hair and dark eyes added menace to a face that was intense even during his lighthearted moments, which were few. And even Kirra, who knew nothing about swordplay, could tell that he handled a blade with exquisite ruthlessness.
But Cammon did not appear to be dead, even mock-dead, since Tayse was seeming to find it difficult to land a blow. More of Cammon’s uncanny sensitivity; it was impossible to take the boy by surprise. Kirra watched as Tayse dropped his sword and said something to Cammon. From the expression on the dark face, it looked like the Rider was offering high praise to the mystic. Kirra could not help but smile.
And then Cammon looked over at her and gave a shout.
In the ten seconds it took him to reach her, she had a chance to make sure she did actually look like her sister, she had actually remembered to hold her disguise as she left her room this morning. But, of course, subterfuge was completely lost on Cammon.
“Kirra! What are you doing here? When did you arrive? Hey, Donnal. See, I told Justin you were both safe.”
Kirra made a hushing sound and looked around, but none of the other spectators were likely to know who Kirra was. “No, no, don’t call me that!” she hissed. “I’m Casserah—I’m Kirra’s sister. And this is a dog.”
“I can tell he’s supposed to be a dog, but you—I’m sorry, I haven’t given anything away, have I? It’s just that—”
“I know. I look like Kirra to you. But call me ‘serra’ if you can’t bring yourself to call me by the wrong name.”
“Yes, serra. Sorry, serra.” He was grinning. “When did you get here? Have you seen Senneth?”
“Yesterday. Yes. I saw her last night. She had no idea who I was, so I had fun for a few minutes.”
He shook his head. “You can’t be trusted.”
During this quick exchange, Tayse had made his way over at a more leisurely pace. He gave Kirra the small bow of acknowledgment any Rider would give to any high-ranking noble and said to Cammon, “Are we done for the day? Are you ready to quit?”
Cammon gave Kirra an imploring look. “No, I just wanted to talk to—I saw someone I knew and—”
Tayse gave Kirra a sharper look this time. She assumed a haughty expression, but she had a feeling Senneth had already betrayed her. “I’m Casserah Danalustrous,” she said in her coldest voice. “I believe you’re acquainted with my sister.”
Now Tayse was smiling broadly, showing a rare and deep amusement. “I believe I am. Quite the hellion. Glad to see the last of her when she rode out of Ghosenhall.”
Kirra shook her head. “Senneth told you.”
“She didn’t like the idea of you playing tricks on me.”
Cammon was clearly relieved. “And that’s Donnal.”
Tayse glanced down and gave Donnal a friendly nod. “I was sure it would be.”
“How was your visit to Brassenthwaite?” Kirra asked him in a honeyed voice. “Did you get acquainted with Senneth’s charming brothers? I hope you took every opportunity to enjoy yourself.”
Tayse still looked amused, but Cammon didn’t pick up the undertones. “Senneth’s brothers don’t seem like the kind of people you really enjoy being around,” the boy said.
She smiled at him. “Perhaps Tayse found other ways to entertain himself, then.”
“I see you’re as much of a hellion as your sister,” Tayse said.
“No, she is her sister,” Cammon said helpfully.
Kirra was giggling helplessly. “Don’t confuse him.”
“Oh, I assure you,” Tayse said, “I am not at all bewildered.”
Someone drifted over and Kirra looked up to see that Justin had joined them, as always gravitating to whatever group included Tayse. He gave the serramarra an indifferent bow and clouted Cammon on the shoulder. “You done with him? Want to fence with me a little?”
Cammon looked between Justin’s face and Kirra’s, obviously desperate to tell the truth but bound by the fear of Kirra’s disapproval. No such restraints worked with Tayse. “Say hello to an old friend,” Tayse said. “She’s masquerading as Casserah Danalustrous, but it’s someone you know.”
Justin stepped forward and peered into her face. “Really? Is that Kirra? And is this what your sister looks like? She’s pretty.”
“Happy to see you, too, Justin,” Kirra replied. “Good to finally learn what kind of woman you admire.”
He was grinning. “I don’t have much time for women. But I prefer dark to fair.” He glanced down at the dog at Kirra’s feet. “That Donnal? Hey, if you want to work out with us, just come on by some afternoon.”
Donnal offered a sharp bark that Kirra figured no one could interpret. Possibly Cammon, who did not translate. “So are any of you going with Senneth when she leaves for Kianlever in a few days?” she asked.
Tayse just looked at her; of course he was. Justin glanced at him. “You’re leaving? How long will you be gone?”
“I was going to ask if you wanted to go along,” Tayse replied. “We’ll need a handful of Riders because we’ll be accompanying the queen and the princess. We’ll need to make our presence felt.”
“I’ll come,” Justin said.
Cammon looked wistful. “Would there be room for me?”
Senneth’s voice answered from behind Kirra. “Ah, here’s where you’ve all gone off to. Kirra, where have you been?”
“Looking for you, mostly.”
Senneth bent down to ruffle the fur on Donnal’s head. He had scrambled up to greet her and managed to run his tongue across both her fingers and her cheek. She laughed and held still so he could lick her again, then she straightened to survey the others. “I was trapped in the most boring conversation imaginable with some woman from—who knows? Tilt, maybe. Maybe Storian. I couldn’t tell. I just cannot endure the thought that I’m about to set off on a social round that will bring me nothing but such conversations for the rest of my life.”
“Six weeks, maybe,” Kirra said. “It won’t be so bad.”
“We were just discussing our travel plans,” Tayse said. “Justin’s coming with us. Cammon has expressed an interest in joining us, too.”
“Excellent! I hoped you both would,” Senneth replied. “I’m assuming Kirra and Donnal will also travel with us, since they’re heading to all the same functions.”
Kirra was surprised to see the look of satisfaction that crossed Justin’s face. Surprised, because it was exactly how she felt, but she hadn’t expected Justin to be the one to experience the same emotion. “Just like last winter,” he said. “The six of us.”
“Well, and probably twenty more guards, and Valri and Amalie and who knows how many servants,” Senneth said. “But yes. The six of us.”
Cammon was smiling and that didn’t surprise Kirra because Cammon was the one who valued connections more than any of them. We should be together. No one spoke the words, but Kirra could feel a net of friendship and affection tightening over their whole small group, binding them in invisible ways. She had been eager to meet up with Senneth again and pleased to see the others, but she hadn’t expected this, the sense of camaraderie or something even stronger. Fellowship. Trust. Belonging.
“Good,” Justin said. “When do we leave?”
CHAPTER 13
A WEEK later, a caravan left Ghosenhall for Kianlever, bearing half the royal house with it. In addition to Tayse and Justin, their party included two more Riders, a troop of twenty soldiers, and three carriages. One held Valri and Amalie, one held Kirra and Melly, and one held the three servants imported to care for the princess and the queen. Kirra had been unable to shake Melly, but she had taken the opportunity to send her own guards back to Danalustrous. Doing away with just the tiniest
bit of her retinue made her feel appreciably lighter in spirit.
They spent four days on the road, the travel tedious but tolerable. Kirra hated being cooped up in the carriage, so she was always the first to alight when they stopped for informal breaks along the way. She would take a brisk walk with Donnal or stroll up to the lead carriage to see if Senneth had anything interesting to say. During one of these breaks, she spotted Cammon and Donnal sitting together, Cammon earnestly and unself-consciously carrying on a conversation with the black hound.
“That young man you brought along is a lunatic,” Kirra joked to Senneth. “He keeps talking to that dog.”
“Something of a simpleton,” Senneth agreed. “He claims the dog can understand him. He even thinks the dog can talk back. I’ve told the queen and the princess not to be alarmed, but I think they wish I’d left him behind.”
“I’m sure at some point he’ll earn his keep.”
“Cammon always does.”
So there were entertaining moments during the day, but the nights spent at roadside inns were exceedingly dull. They dined according to caste, which meant spending too much time with Valri, who had no inclination for small talk, and Amalie, who was not a chatterer. Kirra could usually charm anyone, but in character as Casserah, she merely let the dinner hours pass in near silence. After each meal, they all scattered to their assigned rooms, which had mistress paired up with maid—not much chance for stimulating conversation there. As part of her mission to guard the princess, Senneth always slept solitarily in the room next to Amalie’s—though Kirra suspected many of those nights she did not lie alone. She never caught Tayse coming in or out of Senneth’s room but she had to believe he spent some nights there. And who better to help a serramarra guard a princess than a Rider? No one would complain.
Finally, after four days of this monotony, they arrived in Kianlever Court.
The lands owned by the Kianlever family formed a roughly rectangular shape, much longer from east to west than from north to south. The terrain shaded from fairly flat arable land on the west end to rougher, rockier, more picturesque foothills as the eastern edge climbed toward the Lireth Mountains. The principal city was situated almost exactly dead center from all boundaries. It was a pretty, rather muddled sort of place, built from a profusion of often dissonant styles and serving as home to a widely disparate group of people. Kirra, practically hanging out the window in her excitement to finally have something interesting to look at, could spot enclaves of nobles, farmers, merchants, servants, soldiers, and hunters traversing the city streets. On one corner, she noted a half dozen Daughters of the Pale Mother, dressed in novice white and sprinkled with moonstones, offering their benedictions to the passing crowds. On another corner she saw a close, watchful, edgy group of men who gave off the indefinable essence of wildness, even though they were dressed much like everyone else. Kirra wished Senneth was in the coach with her. She thought they might be from the Lirrens, that strange, half-hostile land that lay just a mountain range away from Kianlever. Senneth would know. She had lived in the Lirrens during her long years of exile and could even call some of those tight-knit clansmen her friends.
The coaches moved on and the Lirren folk—if they were—fell behind. Now they were rolling through the wealthy district, featuring large, expensive private homes and discreet inns. If Kirra craned her head out the window, she could see the ancestral home of Eloise Kianlever, as appealing and disorganized as the city itself. It featured a crazy-quilt lawn of gardens and hedges surrounding a sprawling building constructed of a hodgepodge of architectural styles. No walls or gates separated the estate from the rest of the city, though Kirra did note the presence of guards at the front entrance and the upper battlements. Still. She was sure Tayse and Justin would be appalled at the haphazard security measures Eloise had put in place. Tayse must already be wondering how he would protect the princess during their stay.
It was soon clear that that was something Tayse and Senneth had discussed in advance.
The coaches pulled up before the wide, welcoming entrance. Kirra disembarked with alacrity, Melly following more slowly. Servants were already pouring out the front door, a steward calling orders to underlings. Senneth and the royal servants were also out of their coaches.
Valri and Amalie were nowhere to be seen.
Tayse and Justin and the other Riders crowded up on horseback to follow Senneth almost to the door itself. Kirra, hopeful of a good show, hurried behind them.
The steward was bowing very low in Senneth’s direction. “Welcome, serra. You have been expected. Rooms are ready.”
“I am concerned about the safety of the people in my party,” Senneth said in a stern voice very unlike her. “The princess and the queen are used to the most stringent security measures, with many levels of protection between them and the outside world. Kianlever Court is too undefended. We must take additional steps.”
“The marlady Eloise has always felt adequately protected, serra.”
“Perhaps. But a princess of the royal house, forgive me, is even more precious than the marlady and consequently is often in much graver danger. Therefore, one of the King’s Riders will be within call of the princess at all times, whether she is asleep in her room or dining in your great hall. These Riders will not be questioned or detained for any reason whatsoever—in fact, any attempt to remove them from the vicinity of the princess will be considered an act of aggression. They will be allowed free range of the house and the grounds. They will be authorized to question anyone who appears to be suspicious. They will remain unobtrusive if they can—but they will not hesitate to act if they must.”
The steward looked appalled. “Serra! I assure you! Such measures are not necessary! See, we have soldiers at the entrance and down every hall—”
“If the princess is not guarded by Riders, she does not stay in this house. We will spend the night at some more accommodating establishment and return to Ghosenhall in the morning.”
Now the steward was nervous, not sure where his greatest offense might lie. He could not afford to be the one who turned the princess away from the door—when the princess had not been seen outside the gates of Ghosenhall for years—but he could not recklessly commit his lady to such a course of action. “Serra,” he said, as calmly as he could, “be pleased to wait. I must consult with the marlady.”
Senneth nodded. “I understand. Please be swift.”
The steward disappeared. The Kianlever servants had stopped their feverish unpacking and now stood uncertainly near the coaches, bags in their hands and trunks at their feet. Melly and the other royal servants climbed back into the coaches to wait.
Kirra crept close enough to Senneth to whisper in her ear, “What a fuss! Whose idea was this?”
“Tayse’s,” Senneth breathed in response. “War strategy. Establish your position early. Make a show of strength. Your enemy will think twice before attacking.”
“Will she allow it?”
“I don’t think she has a choice.”
Indeed, fifteen minutes later, Eloise Kianlever herself came flowing out the door. At least that was how it looked, for she was wearing a filmy dress of aqueous colors and many layers that seemed to swirl about her like the currents of a river. Her hands were flung before her in a gesture that was half welcoming, half conciliatory. She was a middle-aged woman with regular features and unremarkable brown hair, but she always dressed in such vivid colors and outrageous styles that she had a certain flamboyant presence nonetheless. Kirra had never thought she was exceptionally intelligent, though infinitely likable.
“But, Senneth! What is this?” Eloise demanded, taking both of Senneth’s hands in hers. Surprised at the warm greeting, Kirra belatedly remembered that Senneth had relatives in Kianlever; her grandmother had been born here. Though Senneth had never seemed too eager to call on those Kianlever connections once she severed her ties with the nobility. “Not even across my threshold and you are already ruffling the whole household!”
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Senneth permitted Eloise to lean forward and kiss her on the cheek. “I am sorry to seem so demanding,” she said, though she did not sound sorry. “I am charged with making sure Princess Amalie is secure. To me, in a place as open as Kianlever Court—charming as it is!—she does not seem safe. I want assurance that the king’s men can be deployed around her at all times.”
“You mean, standing beside her chair at dinnertime?”
“I mean, within call of her voice. They will stay out of the way. They will cause no trouble—unless trouble comes hunting the princess.”
“Yes—yes—of course, they shall follow her wherever she goes, if that is your condition,” Eloise said. “I am certain she will be entirely safe—but the king’s only daughter! I understand he cannot be too careful.”
Senneth nodded. “Thank you. You are most gracious.”